In November 2017, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a strong advocate of Hungary’s “eastern opening,” hosted the “16+1” summit for China and 16 Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries in Budapest.

“We must accept that not only are we entering the era of the west’s declining economic dominance, we are also witnessing an era in which we will see the end of the west’s military dominance,” Orbán said in 2015, arguing that the east is now the starting point for the new global order. He made this statement just one year after praising China and Russia for being successful “not liberal, not liberal democracies, maybe not even [democratic]” nations during his infamous Tusnádfürdő speech.